I kick the door shut with my foot before heading to the kitchen to warm a bottle for Jaxson.
“Sweet Jaxson!” Chloe comes at me from seemingly nowhere. “Oh my God.” She tries to land her itchy, twitch-witchy fingers on him, and I spin my body away.
“Hands off.” I shoot the beast a dirty look for even thinking about it.
Lexy laughs. “That’s right. Bring him to me. I’ve got baby on the brain. I’m thinking about getting inseminated. Let me feed him. I need a trial run.”
“Don’t do it.” Chloe shakes her head, her eyes widening with a slightly veiled threat. “She’s sneezed a dozen times since I’ve been here. Why do you think I’m hiding out in the kitchen?”
Michelle grunts, “Because that’s where the cookies are, Bishop. Now throw me that box of Oreos or die!”
Chloe makes a face before complying. “Logan, we need to talk.”
“Nope. I’m busy,” I say, struggling to get the top off the bottle.
Chloe takes it from me and quickly works the nipple off and warms the bottle up a second in the microwave before testing the milk on her wrist before giving it back to me.
“I can’t believe this,” she growls. “So Ro—soSkyla’snot feeding him? What a little whiny—”
“No name calling. My house, my rules.” A smile flexes over my lips as I cradle Jaxson, and he takes the bottle like a champ.
“He should be nursing,” she whispers as she ogles the poor kid. “Oh, Logan. Where isSkyla, anyway?” She lays an unnecessary emphasis on her name.
“I don’t know. As soon as I’m done, I’ll track her down. I think she’s doing something for the wedding.”
“Oh my God”—she pitches her head back dramatically—“thewedding.”
“Chloe, what’s gotten into you?” I’ve never seen her this animated before.
Michelle looks my way. “She’s not herself. She’s been a real bitch all morning.”
A dark laugh rumbles through me. “It sounds as if she’s very much herself.”
“Hey.” Chloe comes shy of swatting me. “Be nice. I’m trying here. Boy, nobody around here believes in second chances.”
I can’t help but huff at that one. “We all believe in second chances. And we’ve all given them to you. It’s chance two thousand we seem to have a tough time with. You really know how to test people’s resilience, Chloe.”
“Right.” She clears her throat, her gaze magnetizing back to Jaxson. And if I didn’t know better, I’d say there’s a touch of sorrow in her eyes.
“Stop looking at my kid like you’re going to eat him,” I tell her. “You’ve got a couple of kids of your own you can munch on. Why don’t you head over and see Wes? Raise hell over there for a little while.”
“Oh, I plan on raising hell.” She gives an incredulous huff. “A lot of it. But I’m bottling it all up for Gage.” She leans in. “So he had you in Eversor. Are you okay?”
“Good news travels fast.”
“I was in the lab with Ezrina and Nev.” She gives a little shrug, and I hate that deep down I’m finding something very endearing about Chloe Chopped-My-Head-off-for-the-Hell-of-It Bishop.
I sigh over at her. “Maybe go back down there. No offense, but you tend to scare children. I think they sense your general disdain for their kind.”
Her lips curl as she frowns. “I promise I’m not scaring any child, especially not any of yours.” She glances to the living room. “Can we go upstairs?” she whispers. “I really need to talk to you, alone.”
Michelle giggles herself into a conniption. “Is that what we’re calling it now, Chloe?Talking? Logan has Skyla totalkto. In fact, they like talking—alot, hence the kid. Go find someone else to get your rocks off with.”
Chloe shakes her head frenetically. “I’m not getting my rocks off with you, Logan. I have something important to tell you. Don’t make me drag you kicking and screaming.”
I take a moment to give her a wry look. “Lay a hand on me and you’ll end up on the wrong side of the front door. Come on. Give me some peace. I need to put my son to bed.” I head upstairs and Chloe follows right behind, closer than a shadow.
We head into Jaxson’s room where I lay him down and gently pluck the bottle from the sleeping infant’s mouth. I watch as he squirms into a ball before launching his fists over his head, his eyes still peacefully sealed shut.
